Century in headwind/tailwind or cross?
01-20-18, 10:50 AM
#26
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The only wind I care about now is strong cross winds that can move you over, or tip you. If you get a strong head wind, just slow down and down shift until you find a comfortable pace. Not a big deal.
01-21-18, 12:29 AM
#27
Me duelen las nalgas
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Pretty stiff wind here Saturday. 15-17 mph steady by early evening with 30 mph gusts, straight out of the south. I decided to use it to cherry pick some personal bests on a few northbound Strava segments. Got five new PRs and improved from 8th to 4th overall on one segment contested by some fast local riders (which I am not, usually). The PRs by those other riders were all wind assisted too.
Took about 20 miles of riding east/west to get to those segments. The crosswinds really didn't bother me. It was mostly steady, only occasional gusts, nothing enough to throw off my balance on the road bike. My road bike's an old Centurion Ironman, with narrow low-profile rims and 700x23 tires. That might help a bit. But there's other stuff to catch the wind -- a medium size seat bag, water bottle, camera and light on the handlebar, my fairly loose fitting jersey, especially the sleeves flapping. Still didn't feel like the crosswind was too bad. Might have been trickier on the hybrid -- more upright position, bigger tires, rear rack, etc.
The northbound climbs to get to the southbound tailwind-assisted segments were pretty tough. A 1.5 mile 2% grade I usually handle at 15 mph (like I said, I'm not fast, especially on climbs) was bogged down to 8-9 mph Saturday by headwinds, and I'm surprised it was that fast. I felt like I could have walked the bike faster.
On the plus side, I needed the climbing workout and the head wind helped.
Took about 20 miles of riding east/west to get to those segments. The crosswinds really didn't bother me. It was mostly steady, only occasional gusts, nothing enough to throw off my balance on the road bike. My road bike's an old Centurion Ironman, with narrow low-profile rims and 700x23 tires. That might help a bit. But there's other stuff to catch the wind -- a medium size seat bag, water bottle, camera and light on the handlebar, my fairly loose fitting jersey, especially the sleeves flapping. Still didn't feel like the crosswind was too bad. Might have been trickier on the hybrid -- more upright position, bigger tires, rear rack, etc.
The northbound climbs to get to the southbound tailwind-assisted segments were pretty tough. A 1.5 mile 2% grade I usually handle at 15 mph (like I said, I'm not fast, especially on climbs) was bogged down to 8-9 mph Saturday by headwinds, and I'm surprised it was that fast. I felt like I could have walked the bike faster.
On the plus side, I needed the climbing workout and the head wind helped.
01-22-18, 10:56 AM
#30
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If I was not on roads or there were never going to be cars around so I didn't care about getting blown around my opinion would be different, at least on a solo/small group ride.
